THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 101 



Proclamation sent forth over hill, over dale, 

 Over land, over sea, over mountain and vale : — • 



The Chrysa'etos* or Golden Eagle, has the cere yellow; body 

 variegated with brown and rusty ; tail black, waved at the base 

 with cinereous, and beneath white ; legs yellowish rusty, fea- 

 thered down to the toes. It is generally about three feet long, 

 and weighs about twelve pounds; a female was once found 

 which measured in length three feet and a half, and eight feet 

 across with the wings extended. It lives very long, occasionally, 

 it is said, more than a century ; endures great abstinence, some- 

 times for more than twenty days. Breeds in Scotland, Ireland, 

 and sometimes on Snowdon hills in Wales ; scarce in England ; 

 found also in the Alps, Germany, Russia, India, and North 

 America. Feeds on sheep, and also on geese and other 

 poultry. Eggs three or four, greyish white; but it rarely 

 hatches more than two. 



This bird in its habits is said to be untameable, it not be- 

 coming fond even of those who feed it. It does not arrive at 

 maturity till its fourth year; during the period of its growth it 

 puts on various appearances; the Fulvus, see forward, is said 

 by some authors to be the young of this species ; yet this ad- 

 mits of considerable question. 



Two instances have occurred in Scotland of its having flown 

 away with infants to its nest; in both cases the theft was dis- 

 covered, so that the children were not materially injured. A 

 finely wrought up story on the Eagle's taking away " Hannah 



* It has already been mentioned in the Introduction that, 

 in order to avoid repetition, and to save room, in describing 

 the species under each genus, the generic term is uniformly 

 omitted. Thus, the Chrysa'etos is to be understood as Falco 

 Chrysa'etos ; the Ossifragus as Falco Ossifragus, and so of the other 

 genera* It may be useful to mention this again here, in order 

 to obviate the possibility of mistake. 



